Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lightning protection component, intended to be interposed between electronic equipment that may be damaged by a lightning signal and a line that may be struck by lightning and may transmit a lightning signal toward the electronic equipment.
Brief Description of the Related Art
There are numerous lightning protection components comprising Zener power diodes, Transorb or TVS diodes or the like, designed to withstand voltages and currents of the magnitude of those generated by a lightning strike. A diode of this type is intended to be fitted between the line liable to be struck by lightning and an energy dissipation circuit, generally a ground. When the line is struck by lightning, the diode becomes conducting and transmits the lightning signal toward a dissipation circuit, generally a ground.
It has been found that these protective components affect the performance of certain types of electronic equipment located downstream of the component. This occurs, for example, when the line in question connects sensors to a measurement circuit. In this case, owing to the characteristics of the components, leakage currents are induced at a relatively high temperature. Depending on the expected downstream metrological performance levels, these leakage currents may give rise to voltage errors which will degrade the measurement. This is the case, notably, in differential measurement circuits which use, for example, an instrumentation amplifier or a function for finding the analog difference between two functions.